Fed’s Fisher backs off rate hike talk but says Fed funds ineffective now

The Fed’s most ardent hawk, Dallas’s Richard Fisher says the “financial implosion” takes any rate hike off the table, though he admits that the Fed funds rate is not an effective tool amid this liquidity crisis. The market beat you to both of those assumptions a while ago, Dick.

Also on the wires, JP Morgan has bought the deposits of Washington Mutual. It is unclear what happens to the rest of the bank, but odds are they have the FDIC on speed-dial.

UPDATE: As suspected, the rest of WaMu is in the hands of government regulators.